Wyoming Cowgirls Open Road Trip with a Win Over Montana

Behind a season high 18 points from Ashley Sickles, the Wyoming Cowgirl basketball team (6-1 overall) pulled out the 58-56 victory over the Montana Lady Griz (5-3 overall), on Thursday night, in Missoula.

“We talked at the start of the game tonight that these are two talented teams,” said head coach Joe Legerski. “Both have the ability to score inside and out, have tremendous players that can step up and it will come down to whether we are in it in the final four minutes. Out of the last timeout, it was even throughout the entire game and it came down to the final four minutes. Ashley Sickles made a big play with a shot along the baseline with the clock going down and after the timeout Kayla hit a big three. To Montana’s credit they kept coming back and even at the end they would steal the ball and had an opportunity to tie it up or win the game. We need to do a better job of getting the ball in bounds. We did just enough to come out of here with a win.”

Ashley Sickles led all scorers for the Cowgirls as she recorded a season high 18 points and nine rebounds. She was 6-15 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. Kayla Woodward and Chaundra Sewelll each chipped in 14 points while pulling down nine and seven rebounds respectively. Wyoming shot 21-45 (.467) from the field while out rebounding Montana 41-29. Unfortunately, they committed 20 turnovers which resulted in 23 points for the Lady Griz.

Kenzie De Boer led all scorers for the game with 29 for Montana. She also had four rebounds and two assists in her 33 minutes of action. Jordan Sullivan added 10 points and four boards followed by two others with six points. They were 23-65 (.354) from the field and 4-9 (.444) from the free throw line.

After UW took a 26-24 lead at halftime, it was all Cowgirls to begin the second half as they scored eight straight points including two three-point field goals by Woodward to give them a double-figure lead, 34-24. The Lady Griz would chipped away to tie it up at 49. Two free throws by Sewell ended a four minute drought by Wyoming to make it 51-49. On the next possession down the court, De Boer earned a three-point play to give Montana their first lead of the game, 52-51, with 3:55 to go in the game. Sickles responded with four straight points to put Wyoming back up by three, 55-52. Sullivan hit a shot to make it a one point game, 55-54.

Next time down the court, Woodward hit a huge three-point shot giving the Cowgirls a four point advantage, 58-54. Montana would get three opportunities at the basket and on the last attempt De Boer hit a jumper with nine seconds left on the clock. A steal by Torry Hill gave the Lady Griz a final chance to tie or win the game. A missed shot by De Boer gave the Cowgirls the 58-56 victory, with Sewell grabbing the final rebound.

Wyoming will close out the weekend as they travel to Bozeman to face the Montana State Bobcats. The game is set for 2:00 p.m. Coverage will start on KOWB at 1:30 p.m.